5 OF THE MAC BEST & CHEESE

Just when you thought you couldn’t improve on perfection, Sally Coates finds five ways to take the classic comfort food next level

BURGERS ZE PICKLE

37 CONNOR ST, BURLEIGH HEADS

The Ze Pickle boys want your burgers to be as unnutritious as possible, which is why they’ve dosed up their vegetarian offering with a hot cheese injection in the form of their mac patty. “It’s our jalapeño and five cheese fried macaroni patty with Mum’s slaw and corn chips,” co-owner Aaron Wilson says. “We did it because mac and cheese is the tits, but it is hopeless on burgers as one bite and it comes fangin’ out the other side of the burger, so we whip up a batch of macaroni and five different cheeses along with diced jalapeños, then form patties, crumb and deep-fry it. Now when you bite it holds together in perfect burger form.”

CLASSIC COMBO EASY STREET 12/2563 GOLD COAST HWY, MERMAID BEACH

There’s no shortage of mac and cheese at this retro American diner, where you can shovel in piles of carbs and cheese in three different forms. There’s the classic mac and cheese, which is made from three different types of cheeses and a hint of chipotle for a bit of kick. Or get a little bit fancy with the truffled mac and cheese. If you’re after a meal instead of a side, the Pig Mac burger has 12-hour spice rubbed and pulled pork with the three cheese mac and cheese, house-made slaw and Easy Street’s own barbecue sauce.

LOBSTER LUXE BROOKLYN DEPOT THE 4217, 10 BEACH RD, SURFERS PARADISE

After burgers blew up on the GC, the crew at Brooklyn Depot embarked on a research trip around the US to find out what American food really is. Their lobster mac and cheese was one of the 15 new dishes that resulted from the research, reminiscent of what they found in Greenpoint, Brooklyn. It’s a macaroni and three cheese sauce mixed with fresh lobster meat, baked “au gratin” with a gremolata breadcrumb topping. The idea of mixing something as luxe as lobster with mac and cheese is intriguing in itself.

SPRING ROLLS NOTORIOUS E.A.T. MOBILE BUSINESS, CHECK NOTORIOUSEAT.COM.AU

You may want to chase down this food truck, owned and run by Jemma Wickham, when you hear about their mac and cheese spring rolls. “I pretty much just stuffed spring rolls with whatever I could think of and came up with a winner. They’re made from our house mac and cheese, smoky barbecue pulled pork, house barbecue sauce and Monterey Jack cheese. Roll it up, deep fry it and Bob’s yer uncle! What’s usually a messy fork food becomes easy to eat in its own little case.”

PASTA TWIST SALT MEATS CHEESE THE 4217, 10 BEACH RD, SURFERS PARADISE

While the traditional mac and cheese recipe — quite obviously — uses macaroni pasta, Salt Meats Cheese at the Surfers Paradise 4217 building uses the wider rigatoni pasta. While the decision has been controversial, they say it’s so more of that delicious sauce can get inside the pasta, creating a real flavour explosion with every mouthful. The dish consists of truffle rigatoni pasta baked in a four cheese sauce with plenty of truffle oil and finished off with parmesan for good measure.